Michael Mashkevich leads Day 3 of the Reclaim Your Calm Challenge with three relaxation techniques: 4-7-8 breathing, a 5-4-3-2 sensory grounding exercise, and shoulder-release movements. He explains how the parasympathetic nervous system helps you relax.
Hi, welcome to day 3 of the Reclaim Your Calm Challenge. So just to review, on day 1 I told you what is stress, and there's 2 types of stress that we talked about. There's eustress and there's distress. And then day 2, which was yesterday, I talked about how meditation could be something that we use to be aware of what is going on, to kind of calm the mind down. But But today I want to take it another step forward and give you some other techniques to kind of calm down the body. Because meditation is just one thing, but there's other techniques to really be able to calm down. So these techniques are going to be a little bit different than just the meditation because you're going to be employing your body a little bit more. Because the body is so important to then tell the mind that it's not in that nervous, stressed-out state. Even though Stress doesn't have to be a bad thing. Stress could be a good thing. It's just how you look at it, right? So to talk about what is this kind of mentality to get into a non-stressed state, let's talk about stress is just energy in motion. It's not necessarily a bad thing or a good thing. As I mentioned, there's eustress and then there's distress. And to get into like a more calm state, let's talk about different techniques. So one of the techniques I like is the 4-7-8 Breathing technique. So we could try this together, but the idea is you breathe in for 4. 1, 2, 3, 4. Right? And then you hold it for 7. You count to 7, and then you release it for 8. And you do this a few times, and then as you're doing this, the body starts to relax. It really activates the parasympathetic nervous system. And if you're not aware what that is, or— I haven't mentioned it, but parasympathetic nervous system is what you use to digest food. It's not something you control. It's like the rest and digest kind of mentality where it just happens. So, by using your parasympathetic nervous system, you're able to calm down your body. And as you calm down your body just by breathing, you get more calm and you're not in that distress state of mind where you're in a bad state. You're able to calm your body down. So let's try it together. I do— I go 4 to inhale. And then you hold it for 7, right? 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7. And then you let go for 8. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8. 7, 8. And you do this a few more times, 2 or 3 times, depending on how you feel. And as I do this myself more times, my body just seems to fall away, like I'm on a cloud. It's really wonderful. And the second technique I want to go through today is using your senses. It's really Just using your senses, grounding through your senses. And it's really easy. We start with 5 and we go down to 1. So think of 5 things you can see. For example, in this outdoor area, it's beautiful here. I can see there's trees, there's oranges on that tree, there's these leaves. 2, right? 3, I see the leaves. 4, I see the sticks. 5, I see what I see. I see, let's say I see another big tree here. So all these things, and when I'm thinking about this, I can't, I can't be stressed out because I'm using my senses, right? I see them and it's like I have to be paying attention to that. I'm more in the moment. And when I'm more in the moment, I'm not feeling bad. I'm feeling, starting to feel good, right? So that's 5 things that I could see. Then 4 things you could touch. For example, I can touch the grass and the sensation I feel when I touch the grass, it's like, wow, that feels different. I touch the soil, that's another thing, right? It's like grainy. Amazing. I pick up a stick, that's another thing I feel, really different sensation because it's kind of like an interesting piece of wood, right? I can touch this leaf, that's full. 4 different things I can see. It makes me feel more calm because I'm more in the moment of what the present moment is about. I'm not thinking about the past. I'm not thinking about the future. I'm in the now, right? 3 things you could hear. I could hear— I can hear birds. I can hear bugs. What else can I hear? I can hear the wind, right? 3 things. They're just there. Makes me more in the present. 2 things I could smell. Smell the beautiful air. Let's see, can I smell the grass? Smell the grass. Ooh. But it's different, right? Puts me more in the present moment. And I can't be panicking and sensing at the same time. It just doesn't work. So, and the last thing is kind of a little bonus, bonus thing to try. But if you just raise up your shoulders, and then when you're ready, just release. And just this feeling is also nice. And you do this a few times. Let's do it again. Ah. Ah. It just drops everything. It just feels so, so nice. I love these techniques because they really put me into the moment. And what place is better than the moment? I'm not thinking about what I have to do, what I have to— like what I've done before. It's— I'm more in the present moment, and that's amazing to me. Gets me out of my calm— out of my mind, out of the stress state, and puts me in a calm state. So much more pleasant. And in day 4, tomorrow, I want to talk to you about how to stay calm even when life throws a curveball at you, because there's always moments in life when you don't expect Like, you don't expect to be, for example, horrible, but in a car accident. Or you don't expect to hear something that you're not aware of, or like losing your job, or something that's like not something that you're aware of, but you have to deal with it. And that's a stressor, right? You can interpret it as eustress or distress, again, just like we talked about before, but it's a stressor. How do you deal with that? So we'll talk about them tomorrow. And as far as the techniques today, have you tried them already? And let me know what works for you, what doesn't work for you, and maybe you have other techniques that you use. Like, I love grounding. It keeps me more with nature. I feel the ground under me and I love that. It gives me the kind of the sense of feeling more with nature. It kind of gets the whatever, what is it called? The The negative energy off and away because I'm more with the earth. I feel more alive. And you have the power really to create calm wherever you are, whenever you want to, because it's all possible. And stick around, day 4 tomorrow, and I'll do even more good stuff and teach you how to be calm even when the world, the life, the life that we live in Throws, throws a curveball at you. All right, take care. Until then, bye. Bye.
